More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

September 14, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 30, 2005

Gun control loses yet again

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON -- Last Sunday in Brazil, a country with the second-highest rate of gun deaths on the planet, almost two-thirds of Brazilians voted against a total ban on the sale of firearms. Explain that.

EDITORIALS

Oct 30, 2005

A tale of two bears

Human beings are a cruelly fickle lot, especially when it comes to animals. Take two stories circulating on the Web last week, both out of Washington, D.C. and both concerning bears.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Oct 30, 2005

What lies beneath the myth of middle-class consciousness

By Roger Pulvers

A friend sent me an email about some new people, all Japanese, she had met at a party. There was a young man who had worked in Africa for Medecins Sans Frontieres. One middle-age man had quit a stable job in broadcasting to study French in Paris. A female graduate student in marine biology was also there....

EDITORIALS

Oct 29, 2005

Charter gives Iraq a new chance

Iraq has a new constitution. Iraqis approved the national charter by a narrow margin, prompting allegations of fraud by dissenters. While the outcome produced a document that is more democratic and representative than any other in Iraq's history, the referendum results highlighted the country's sharp...

EDITORIALS

Oct 28, 2005

Learning from devastating quakes

On Oct. 23, 2004, a series of powerful earthquakes, including one with a magnitude of 6.8, devastated the Chuetsu region in Niigata Prefecture. Of the 51 deaths, 16 were directly caused by the devastation. Most of the remaining deaths were caused by "economy-class syndrome," in which survivors who tried...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 28, 2005

Diabetes: Asia's silent killer

By Paul Zimmet

You could be forgiven for thinking communicable illnesses, like HIV/AIDS, and the newly feared bird flu, are the major disease threats for Asia in the next and coming decades.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 27, 2005

Arduous birth of democracy

By Daisaku Ikeda

The democratization of a further third of the world's countries during the second half of the 20th century was a remarkable and inspiring achievement. At the start of the 21st century, however, the difficulties inherent in exporting democracy have become starkly apparent.

EDITORIALS

Oct 27, 2005

Saddam Hussein on trial

The trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein began last week in Baghdad. While Hussein and seven others are the defendants of record, the real focus is the tribunal itself -- its legitimacy and by extension, that of the current government in Iraq. Never before has justice been so important to Iraq....

EDITORIALS

Oct 26, 2005

Mr. Rumsfeld's visit to Asia

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has just concluded a quick tour of Northeast Asia. Mr. Rumsfeld is a relatively infrequent visitor to this part of the world, so his trip provides insight into U.S. thinking about security concerns in the region. In particular, the secretary's "frank" discussions...

COMMENTARY

Oct 26, 2005

A Koizumi promise not worth keeping

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- Last week, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made his fifth visit to Yasukuni Shrine. There was the predictable response from other Asian nations, but it is clear that those protests fall on deaf ears. If the prime minister's determination is plain, so too are the consequences, and they have...

EDITORIALS

Oct 25, 2005

Postal reform just the start

With the Diet's Oct. 14 passage of the postal-services privatization bills, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has reaped a reward for his daring decision to dissolve the Lower House. But the postal privatization is only the first of many issues that the government has to address to streamline its operations...

COMMENTARY

Oct 24, 2005

How clear is Japan's future?

By Hugh Cortazzi

The editors of three leading British journals (The Times, The Financial Times and The Economist) have recently visited Japan and reported positively on Japan's economic prospects. They noted that Japan had largely recovered from "the lost decade." The Economist was bullish, heading its recent supplement...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.

The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports